Plymouth Woman Indicted for Paycheck Protection Program Fraud and Money Laundering

BOSTON – A Plymouth woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for submitting fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications on behalf of herself and her father fraud and money laundering.

Katherine Reynolds, 65, was indicted on two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Reynolds will be arraigned in federal court on Aug. 8, 2024. In May 2024, Reynolds was charged by criminal complaint.

According to the charging documents, Reynolds submitted two fraudulent loan applications seeking loans for herself and her father pursuant to the PPP. The loan applications falsely claimed that Reynolds and her then 86-year-old father earned over $100,000 per year providing massage services in their home. The loan applications also included fraudulent tax forms that were not filed with the IRS. In addition, on June 25, 2021, Reynolds withdrew $20,000 in cash from the account into which the PPP loans were paid.  

The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The chard of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.  

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement today. The Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General provided valuable assistance in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Sullivan of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.  

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud. 
    
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.